DESCRIPTION (adapted from the application) The proposed training program is a joint venture between the Division of Nephrology of the Department of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania (U of Penn), the Division of Nephrology of the Department of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the U of Penn. The program was conceived to meet the growing need to adequately train reseachers in the methodologies essential to carrying out clinical research and the growing interest of trainees in formal clinical research training. The program is designed to train nephrology trainees as independent investigators capable of using a range of clinical research methodologies to address clinical issues relevant to nephrology including the etiology, prognosis, prevention and early detection, treatment or economics of renal disease. The program will provide knowledge of research techniques necessary for clinical research, provide research experience under the supervision of a mentor in epidemiology and nephrology, and provide a milieu in which trainees can interact with faculty in a seminar setting. The three-year program will require trainees to take required courses from CCEB including clinical epidemiology, research methodology and biostatistics, and elective courses, attend and participate in research seminars, and complete and independent research project. Completion of the required course work will result in a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology. The majority of courses will be taken during the first and second years. The focus of the second and third years is the thesis/clinical research project. Trainees will be recruited and selected from the nephrology fellows applying for fellowship in adult or pediatric nephrology.